The present invention relates to optical bar code scanners, and more specifically to a bar code scanner which produces substantially perpendicular scan lines.
Bar code scanners are well known for their usefulness in retail checkout and inventory control. Bar code scanners generally employ a single laser source, the light from which is collimated and focused to produce a scanning beam. They may additionally employ a mirrored spinner to direct the beam against a plurality of stationary mirrors, and a detector to collect the beam after it is reflected by a bar code label. The pattern produced by such a scanner is characterized by lines oriented at various angles to one another.
In a typical bar code scanner, the optimal orientation of a bar code label for scanning is facing the scanner, with the lines and spaces of the bar code oriented perpendicular to the path of at least one scan line. Some angular disparity from the preferred parallel orientation of the label is tolerated by most scanners. But as bar code orientation changes from a this preferred orientation, the bar code label becomes harder to read. For most scanners, a bar code label oriented perpendicular to the scanner aperture is impossible to read.
It is desirable in designing today's scanners that the item orientation required of an operator be kept to a minimum. Therefore, a casually oriented merchandise item may place the bar code label in an orientation that differs from the preferred orientation.
Therefore, it would be desirable to provide a bar code scanner which produces substantially perpendicular scan lines to allow a bar code label oriented up to ninety degrees to the scanner aperture to be scanned and read.